The Race Of The Cafe
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After a long and reasonably successful career in the chemical industry in the northeast of England I was fortunate to get the opportunity to retire at the age of fifty-five with plans of participating in Triathalon. This plan was changed when I got in a car accident. WIth injuries, I decided to pursue bike racing. The Race Of The Cafe is my journal since then about cycling, sociology, and..
The Race Of The Cafe
2y ago
On November 24th I posted my 700th consecutive outside ride on Strava
It's been a long couple of years for us all that's for sure and we have all had to find our way through the pandemic the best way that we could, for me that was to keep riding my bike ... everyday. I have just passed the milestone of 700 consecutive days riding outside, not something that I particularly set out to do, it just sort of happened, gradually and fair ..read more
The Race Of The Cafe
2y ago
Finally ! it's back and on May 31st I raced for the first time in over 14 months, a BMCR (British Masters Cycle Racing) Covid Test Event, just over an hour of racing on a closed circuit at Darley Moor Sports Centre in Derbyshire. Even though it was only a test event there was a big field of sixty age 60+ riders.
Some of these fellas can't be over sixty surely ?
It was great to be back racing at Darley Moor as by coincidence my last race pre-pandemic was here on March 6th 2020. I have previously posted of my of age group racing exploits here Too Old For R ..read more
The Race Of The Cafe
3y ago
In January on a bit of a whim I decided that a good lockdown project would be to start a YouTube channel, theraceforthecafe cycling so I ordered five sheets of MDF a few rolls of wallpaper and I got to work. I have always enjoyed the luxury of having a double garage for my bikes and stuff but any decent YouTube channel has a studio so some changes had to be made.
I had convinced myself that sacrificing half of my bike storage space to build a YouTube studio was a good idea and that it would be worth it in the long run ... hopefully.
Video is definitely the fu ..read more
The Race Of The Cafe
3y ago
Here are a couple of questions for our times:
1. What is the best way to train when there's nothing to train for ?
2. How much fitness do you loose if you don't any any 'proper' training for nine months ?
On the 18th of January last year I was in an optimistic mood and super motivated so I had decided to get my season underway early at the Croft Motor Racing circuit and I was pinning a number on for the first round of the Velo 29 Winter Series. After four months of well structured training, including a lot of race specific high intensity efforts ..read more
The Race Of The Cafe
3y ago
I got an unexpected E mail a couple of weeks ago, one those that I had to read two or three times because not being the sharpest I thought I'd misunderstood it. It was from the marketing department at Giant UK asking if it would be OK if they sent me some of their brand new Cadex ultra performance components to try, wheels and tyres and a saddle that would go really well on my Giant Propel ... oh go on then.
  ..read more
The Race Of The Cafe
3y ago
This is the final part of a three episode Tri series, you don't have to read the others: Episode 1 How Hard Can It Be ? Episode 2 The Training, but this post will probably make a bit more sense if you do (no pressure) and as promised we are going to look at some of the things that really made a difference in the rapid transition that @jackrees1989 made from high level racing cyclist to competitive triathlete. I say final episode but we've decided to devote another post sometime in the new year to bike set up and aerodynamics which we were going to include here but ..read more
The Race Of The Cafe
3y ago
I don't normally do product reviews on the blog as other people can do them a lot better than I can, but because it is a little bit different I've decided to do one on my new gravel bike the Topstone Carbon Black 105 from Cannondale. When I say a review I've made a few changes to the bike since I got it so this post is also about the bits I've changed as much as what I think of the bike. Before I continue I should make it clear that I bought the bike, I got a good deal on the bike, from EPIC CYCLES who I don't have any association with and it's the first time that I have ever ..read more
The Race Of The Cafe
3y ago
A couple of things about this post before you start reading: It's Episode 2 of 3 of the story of a top level cyclists switching to triathlon and racing over the 70.3 distance in the space of just 3 months. So if you missed the first one you might want to hit this link The Outlaw before carrying on, also this post is a bit longer than normal, that's because there is a lot of detail included, so take your time or read it twice or both.
Jack Rees getting really aero with help from Wattshop and the IPhone skills of Hannah Farran, you can see an action s ..read more
The Race Of The Cafe
3y ago
Jack Rees pedalling in the desert for Ribble Weldite at the Saudi Tour in February
You may have guessed from the title that despite the opening picture the sport of triathlon is the topic of this one. This is the first episode of a series of three posts and this one will answer the question: Can a full time cyclist, my son Jack, transition (pun intended) into the sport of triathlon in just three months and compete successfully over the very demanding 70.3 distance at the Outlaw X Triathlon ? a 1.2 mile swim followed by a 56 mile bike concluding with a 13.1 mile run. More accurately can t ..read more
The Race Of The Cafe
4y ago
The Covid-pandemic has thrown up a lot of challenges for all of us and lots of folks have missed out the things that they would have enjoyed during the summer, for me that means no racing season for the first time in thirty six years, I did manage half a dozen low key events in January and February so at least I've pinned a number on this year which is more than most people.
It now seems clear that there will be no 'meaningful' bike racing in the UK for the whole of 2020, there are some time trials around of course but to be honest any race format that doesn't allow me to keep my be ..read more